PAULA PASCHE: Detroit Lions must rid themselves of Titus Young

Detroit Lions wide receiver Titus Young (16) drops a pass in the end zone in front of Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Aaron Ross (31) during the second half of an NFL football game in Jacksonville, Fla., Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012. The Lions won 31-14.(AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Titus Young's status needs to be changed to former Detroit Lions wide receiver.

The Lions must admit they made a bad second-round choice in 2011 by taking Young who had a history at Boise State and in high school of challenging authority.

Bad blood in an NFL locker room can kill a season. Not saying it was Young's fault the Lions finished a disappointing 4-12, but his situation did not help the cause.

Banish him back to California. Look for wide receivers in the draft and free agency.

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It's time. Cut the cord.

Young may have forced the hand of Lions' management with two outrageous tweets on Tuesday.

The first said: 'Like I said I never been selfish but if I'm not going to get the football I don't want to play anymore.'

Sounds exactly like a 10-year-old who threatens to take his football home because things are not going exactly his way.

Coach Jim Schwartz spoke to reporters after Wednesday's Senior Bowl practice about Young, saying basically that every offensive player wants the football and there are good ways to get that done. He said the tweets were an example of not such a good idea, adding there is ground to cover with Young.

He also tweeted on Tuesday: "Never have I ran the wrong route, just put myself where the ball was going.'

Lions management could beg to differ. In the Nov. 18 loss to Green Bay, Young lined up in the wrong spot more than once and helped the Lions to another loss. He was sent home the next day.

He never played another snap.

He was allowed to return to practice two weeks later, but again was sent home. Eventually he was placed on injured reserve due to a bad knee. Coach Jim Schwartz was so irked that he said Young would have surgery, if he showed up for it.

Young got off to a bad start during organized team activities in May when he sucker-punched his teammate Louis Delmas. He was sent home for that too.

How often have you heard of an NFL player getting sent home? And for Titus it was twice.

And still, when the season was mercifully over Schwartz stood behind his podium and said there was still a window open for Young to return in 2013. It was the news of the day for those who thought he would never wear Honolulu blue and silver again.

Two days later general manager Martin Mayhew confirmed that Young had not been kicked to the curb.

On Jan. 2, Mayhew said: "We'll decide (if he'll be back) at the appropriate time, but we haven't decided that at this point. I think it has to be the right situation for him and for us.''

Mayhew said looking back at 2012 it wouldn't make sense to bring him back, but the general manager is looking at the big picture.

"If you look back to 2011 and look at his ability to function in this offense, his ability to get along with his teammates, production that he gave us at receiver, he's demonstrated the ability to be a very productive player in this league,'' Mayhew said.

Has that thinking changed in the past few weeks?

Titus Young is a diva who obviously cares about his stats more than wins.

Wide receiver Nate Burleson said it best when he compared Calvin Johnson, arguably the NFL's best wide receiver, to Michael Jackson and the rest of the Lions receivers as backup singers. Lions' wide receivers must accept that role.

Burleson embraced it when he joined the Lions in 2010.

He still does. Burleson was asked on Twitter on Wednesday if it was good to be the second wide receiver to the best wide receiver.

He responded: "Best job ever! Nothin is wrong wit being Pippen when your playing wit Jordan!"

In 2011 his ninth NFL season, Burleson set a personal best with 73 receptions and his 757 receiving yards were the third best in his career.

If Titus Young stayed healthy, did his homework, ran the correct routes and stayed patient, he would find that his statistics would continue to improve. Johnson doesn't get all the balls.

In 16 games in 2011 his rookie season, Young had 48 catches for 607 yards and six touchdowns. In 10 games in 2012 he had 33 catches for 383 yards and four touchdowns.

Titus Young is set to make $555,000 in 2013 with a $184,666 reporting bonus and possible $50,000 workout bonus.

He should be living the dream.

Instead he wiped out Tuesday's tweets and added this beauty on Wednesday: '2 All the Detroit fans that are speaking against me (with the hash tag) 'It was just All good just a week ago.'